Heart By: Walczak

Two men in hospital both need a heart transplant and when a donor is found the men have to decide between themselves who gets the heart, whoever does not receive the heart will die soon. My short story for english, it's not very good but i wanted to have something up...

Submitted:Sep 13, 2012
Reads: 14
Comments: 1
Likes: 1

Heart

By: Walczak

In the thirty long years I have been a nurse I've met the best
and the worst of people, but never have I met two people that
seem so different and yet have one identical problem. They need a
heart. A moment ago the doctor had come in with some good news
for Ethan and Joseph.

"We have found a suitable heart donor" he had said. The two of
them and Joseph's little daughter who was visiting him had all
brightened up and smiled for the first time I'd seen all day.
That was before they realized what he had truly said. We have
found a suitable donor. The room was not so cheery
anymore.

"You both have top priority for a new heart, so unless one of you
is willing to let the other have it I'm afraid you may both die"
he said robotically. After that he left the room. Just like a
doctor I thought, never caring what so ever about their patients.
He left quickly after that and then I turned my head to see how
the two men would react.

Ethan sat quietly staring out the window obviously thinking. He
was not an unattractive man but he was the type you wouldn't want
to meet in a dark alleyway. He was young probably mid twenties
and had long jet-black hair, he was in need of a shave. His eyes
were always… angry… menacing or something like that anyway and he
had tattoos covering his body. Joseph was constantly flipping a
coin for his daughter who kept on whispering:

"again daddy, pleeeeaaaaase?" and sure enough each time he would
flip the coin into the air and catch it.Small things always did
amuse children.

He looked older then Ethan, possibly in his early forties and he
was the man every woman dreamed she would marry someday. He had
short brown hair, bright blue eyes that looked cheery despite the
situation and a smile to match. The two of them continued in this
manner for some time; Ethan looking out the window at the last
rays of sunlight and Joseph entertaining his little daughter
until finally Joseph spoke.

"The nannies waiting just down the hall for you sweetie and it's
time to go".

She walked to the door slowly and hovered there a second before a
reassuring nod from her father sent her on her way. I sat ever
silent and watched her leave, I was only here if one of them
needed me, it was a nice way to end my final day as a nurse,
doing what I did on my first day; waiting just in case I was
needed by a patient

"I think it's clear who should get to live here…" it was Joseph
who spoke, I could tell by the deep timbre of his voice "I have a
daughter to look after and people will miss me while you're
obviously just some bum from off the street that was lucky enough
to stagger in here half drunk".He leaned back on his bed and
pulled out a lighter and cigarette.

"Sir you really shouldn't be smo…"

"shut it! nobody asked you!" he snarled cutting me off. I sat
down shocked by his sudden change of temperament now that his
daughter had left. Ethan's face for once did not look menacing,
he looked just as shocked as me but that only lasted a moment
because after a few seconds he looked twice as angry as usual.

"How dare you!!!!" he seethed "if you knew… I'll make you regret
saying that!!!!" He began trying to rise from his bed although he
was extremely shaky and his heart rate was starting to elevate
quickly on the monitor.

"Sir please, the entire reason your in this situation is because
of your damaged heart so you wouldn't be doing anyone a favor
putting any more of a strain on it" I pleaded with him. It seemed
to calm him down

"I'm sorry nurse… I never did catch your name"

"it's not important right now, what is important is you two".

Joseph spoke again "I am sorry… it's just that… that… I don't
deserve this… we don't deserve this, no one does… we all know why
I think I should get to live but i don't know much about you so.
Tell me… why should I die for you"

Ethan was quiet for a long time before he finally pulled out his
wallet and retrieved a photo. "This is my wife" he said "and
those are my two big strong boys and that's my beautiful little
girl".

He handed the photo over to Joseph whose expression softened when
he saw the picture. "When I was young… and stupid I might add, I
was thrown out of home alongside my now wife who I had gotten
pregnant… I had to work all day just to get enough money for
food… it was just too much… sometimes I would walk to the bridge
at the edge of town and consider leaving it all behind and
starting afresh somewhere else, but I could never leave her… or
my unborn child I just couldn't bear the thought of leaving them
alone. Even though work was hard and my hands would be bleeding
by the end of the day i would keep going, do you know why?"

Now it was Joseph's turn to be quiet "…why?" he asked after an
extended period of silence.

His voice sounded croaky, I could feel my heart in my throat to.
"Because I knew at the end of the day when I came home I would
see her smile and all my problems would just melt away… and for
those few seconds I would know that I have everything I could
possibly want or need".

Ethan shed a tear, Joseph didn't see it but I'm sure he didn't
need to. I regretted my first thoughts about Ethan after hearing
his story. It just made me seem so shallow after what he had said
and I'm sure that Joseph felt the same way.

"We both want to live, we both have reasons to live and we both
deserve to live, so there's only one way we can settle this, we
toss a coin. Only luck can make this decision". Joseph pulled the
coin he had been amusing his daughter with before from his
pocket, "and to make it fair she can flip it".

He offered the coin to me and I reluctantly took it from him, I
didn't spare one glance at it I did not want to know which side
was already facing up and I did not want to know which side would
be facing up after I flipped it. I was shaking and dropped the
coin and it clicked as it hit the floor, a reassuring smile and a
nod from both men helped me to regain my composure as I picked up
the coin still careful not to look.

"I'll be tails and you be heads" Joseph faced away from both of
us as he spoke and I couldn't see his face properly but I swore
that for a brief moment I saw him smile.

They both then turned and nodded to me, I flicked my thumb and
the coin rocketed into the air spinning uncontrollably. Time
seemed to slow almost to a stop, the coin gained altitude ever so
slowly until it reached the peak of it's arcing motion. There it
seemed to hang for even longer then it had taken to climb up, it
was as if the toss of the coin was taking longer then my entire
day, my entire week or even longer then my thirty years of
nursing. I didn't want either man to die and I did not want the
coin to come back down to my hand but I knew that for one of
these men to live the coin would have to come back down I would
have to catch it and one of them would have to die. Finally it
fell and I caught it closing my hand around it and balling it
into a fist. I raised my arm until it was horizontal and in the
front of the two men. My hand was trembling and it took all of my
will power not to throw the coin away and burst out crying.

"C'mon lass we need to see it" my hand was clenched so tight my
knuckles were going white. My hand seemed locked in place, like
it was being crushed or a great weight was sitting on it. I bit
down on my lip hard making it bleed, doing so seemed to return to
me control of my hand. I opened my hand and we all saw the coin
simultaneously, it was 'heads' up.

Sure Ethan was happy that he got to live and so was I but now we
all knew Joseph was going to die. We were all quiet afterwards
until the doctor returned followed by a surgeon in scrubs.

"Which one is it then?" he sounded annoyed that he had to come
back to these two who were just 'a waste of his time' which was
plain for everyone to see. Ethan raised his hand for still none
of us could speak, they started to wheel him out the door and
away. Joseph turned his head to speak to Ethan

"will you promise me something?"

"ANYTHING just name it". "Promise me you'll tell your wife you
love her… everyday and that you'll be faithful to her and look
after your kids properly". He just nodded incapable of any more
words.

After they had left I offered Joseph his coin but he dismissed it
and said "I don't need it anymore keep it and go home, you
deserve a rest".

I walked outside and pulled the coin from my pocket and looked at
it, still heads side up. I flipped it to look at the other side
only to find it identical to the first. Joseph had given the
heart to Ethan and he hadn't even known his name. It took me a
while to figure out why. Joseph didn't need a heart. He already
had one.